Review: Mansome

Director Morgan Spurlock has a talent for making insightful, engaging, and informative documentaries. Unfortunately, that talent is not in view for his latest film, Mansome. This movie is supposed to "explore the question: In the age of manscaping, metrosexuals, and grooming products galore -- what does it mean to be a man?" The answer, it would seem, is to be a vain, pompous, insecure stereotype.

The names Spurlock interviews for Mansome include Judd Apatow, Adam Carolla, Zach Galifianakis, Isaiah Mustafa, Paul Rudd, John Waters ... and as he likes to do, Spurlock himself gets in front of the camera briefly, to shave his mustache. The most interesting subjects are executive producers Will Arnett and Jason Bateman, who almost appear to be channeling their Arrested Development characters as they spend a day at a spa getting massages, facials and taking baths together.

The documentary starts with examining facial hair -- and seems to spend an inordinate amount of time on the subject -- and concludes this section with about 15 minutes focusing on the winner of a beard contest, who has an unkempt mane that descends past his groin. That was the first time this snoozer put me to sleep. After that, we're shown a focus group testing a new product called "Fresh Balls" that is, yes, an anti-perspirant for male organs.

Moving on, Mansome covers body hair and then head hair before concluding with Ricky, a clothing buyer and self-described metrosexual who appears to equate vanity with self-confidence. If they made this movie presenting women in this way, it would be called sexist and anti-feminist.

In exploring what it means to be a man, Spurlock focuses only on the superficial and avoids any internal answers to the question as he presents these vain, arrogant, even asinine subjects as being just as superficial and worried about appearance as women. Oh yes, I suppose Mansome IS sexist and anti-feminist. Only recommended if you're a huge fan of any of the above interview subjects.